A Magnificent and Rare Gold and Hardstone ‘Steinkabinett’ Box, Christian Gottlieb Stiehl, Dresden, circa 1770
Live auction begins on:
June 24, 02:00 PM GMT
Estimate
600,000 - 800,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
oval, all sides inlaid in 'Zellenmosaik' with differently patterned hardstone specimens within wavy bands of gold engraved with small numbers above each panel, surrounded with reeded or stippled engraving, framed by borders of white opal ovals and with lapis lazuli quatrefoils, the lid further centred with an ingeniously inlaid flower spray including a peony with separately inlaid agate petals, a red carnation also inlaid in pietre dure, agate tulips and foiled smaller blossoms, as well as turquoise forget-me-nots of varying sizes, surrounded with cloisons of bloodstone leaves and stems, some reaching as far as the opal border, all of the 43 numbered irregularly-shaped hardstone specimens on the lid mounted à jour, creating the impression of a stained glass window, the sides inlaid with a Zellenmosaik of 72 slightly asymmetrical and seemingly floating lozenge-shaped hardstones arranged by colour and from various places of occurrence, including agates, jaspers and nephrite within white opal borders matching those on the lid and engraved interlaced gold ribbons on a reeded ground, the base similarly decorated with another 72 hardstone specimens within sinuous gold lines resembling a graduated web around a central lilac with foiled amethyst petals and bloodstone leaves, fitted with a secret sliding compartment opening when one of the opals to lower side is pressed, containing a handwritten paper booklet titled ‘Catalogue de toutes Sortes de Pierres qui se trouvent en Saxe’, listing all the hardstones chosen for the box as well as their place of occurrence sorted by lid, sides and base, both in French and in old German script (Kurrent), apparently unmarked apart from post-1838 French hibou control mark,
7.4 cm., 2 7/8 in. wide
Prince Basil Kotschoubey
Hotel Drouot sale, Paris, 13-16 June 1906, lot 194 (sold to a Mr. de Surany);
Prof Dr. Schmidt, Berlin;
Gustav Pilster collection, Berlin, acquired from the above on 29 January 1929
Walter Holzhausen, Johann Christian Neuber, Dresden, 1935, no. 55, ill.
Alexis Kugel, Gold, Jasper and Carnelian, Johann Christian
Neuber at the Saxon Court, London, 2012, no. S10, p. 380
Christian Gottlieb Stiehl, a Dresden predecessor of the more prolific Johann Christian Neuber, was born in 1708 and died at the age of eighty-four in 1792. He was a pupil of the glasscutter and lapidary Johann Caspar Schmieder from Purschenstein and was appointed Hofsteinschneider (court lapidary) in 1753, working in the Elector’s Mineralienkabinett, until he was awarded a state pension on 29 October 1780 (Alexis Kugel, Gold Jasper and Carnelian, Johann Christian Neuber at the Saxon Court, London, 2012, p. 223). Stiehl’s speciality was the harmonious choice of thinly-cut translucent hardstones set à jour between narrow gold cloisons in the lids or parts thereof for his boxes. Unlike a 'Steinkabinett' by Johann Christian Neuber, where every stone is different and perhaps rather chosen exclusively for scientific interest, Stiehl has chosen the stones for their harmony and beauty.
Stiehl’s ingenious output remained very limited. In fact, only ten surviving snuff boxes are attributed to him at present, among them five in private collections, four in museum collections, and the present lot (Kugel, 2012, nos S1-S10, p. 379-380; see also Jutta Kappel, 'Taddel, Stiehl and Neuber in Dresden', in Murdoch/Zech, Going for Gold, Victoria & Albert Museum, 2012, pp. 106-121).
Walter Holzhausen, as well as a number of scholars today, consider Stiehl’s work superior to that of Neuber due to the unparalleled fineness and lapidary work, which can also be seen in the present lot. Rather than choosing the usual, somewhat rigid oval bands of regular scale-shaped hardstone specimens, the semi-precious stones in the present lot seem to almost float on the base in their wavy gold rims reminiscent of a web. The charming size of the present lot in connection with the playful and incredibly harmonious decoration of the lid, framed by the most unusual combination of polished white hardstone ovals and forget-me-nots inlaid in lapis lazuli rather than the typical turquoise, makes this lot a rare treasure and an extremely sought-after collectible of utmost rarity and beauty.